Ever wonder why you overeat each Christmas time and then panic in the New Year? It is often due to all the food rules you’ve been told to keep the rest of the year…and then trying to fit these into a special season like a holiday celebration. Well, not only do these food rules make holidays more difficult, they can often lead to the problems in the…

Over the past 2 episodes, I have emphasized how faith and love are essential in your journey toward food and body image freedom in Christ, so what’s left? Hope…of course! Hope is another critical ingredient for your walk to true freedom in Christ. What is it like to live with an unhealthy or disordered mindset regarding food, eating, weight, and on…

There are many worldly tools available for those who find themselves struggling -perhaps even obsessed- with their eating, dieting, weight, and body image. However, these tools can only go so far as a remedy because if you are a Christian, you must look at the issues biblically and these worldly tools do not do that. One of the most foundational is…

Unless you are very familiar with biblical counseling, you might wonder why I have “brought” the issues of food freedom, body shame, and dieting into the Christian space. Legit question! And if I wasn’t coming from the place and the background I have, I’d probably be wondering that right along with you! So today I would like to show you – hopefully…

Of all the principles discussed so far, this is the one that makes the most difference! I will share it, give many practical tips to help you get the most out of your food budget, and then walk you through an example of what this looks like in practice. This is the last in a 4-part series on affordable nutritious eating and busting the myth that sa…

Today in part 3 of this 4-part series on affordable nutritious eating, I want to share a very important principle with you. This principle applies not only to nutrition and healthful eating but to all of your money-saving needs. This principle will help you understand what is really required in order for you to save money on your food budget or in …

If you want to talk about eating both economically and healthfully, you MUST start with a discussion on eating plants. Plants are chock full of nutrients that we need. Often when people say they cannot afford to “eat healthy” they are overlooking these colorful, economical gems. Today I continue to debunk the myth of healthy eating being far more e…

Over the years, I have often heard people say they cannot afford to “eat healthy.” This is a topic I want to tackle today so I can show you that truly healthy eating should be very affordable! I want to discuss the misconceptions surrounding this idea that healthy eating is too pricy, and throughout this series give you some tips to give your walle…

One of the many nutrition trends that has had quite an impact is the gluten-free craze. And I know it has had quite an impact because over the past years, the gluten-free options at the grocery store have exploded in number. In fact, most grocery stores now have an entire section designated for gluten-free options. This is quite a phenomenal develo…

Our bodies need many different vitamins and minerals in order to function. There are certainly times when we don’t get enough and that causes #health and functional problems in our bodies. It's common to be concerned about giving our bodies ultimate #nutrition, so does that mean we need to buy and use over-the-counter #supplements? If so, what do w…

It is particularly hard for shift workers to get the proper nutrition and be as healthy as they would like. Unfortunately, it is NOT as simple as just flipping a typical day schedule over to the nighttime. There are many specific challenges shift workers must deal with. Now I KNOW that when you work the night shift, you don’t always have time to li…

Some may be surprised to hear me put sleep and eating behaviors together, but the truth is that there is a strong connection between your sleep pattern and quality, your weight, metabolism, and your eating habits. Many people spend an enormous amount of time and effort on diet and exercise but often neglect another major factor that can have just a…

Continuing with our emotional eating theme once again, we are looking at a deeply impactful but possibly hidden cause for emotional eating. We will look at 5 spiritual issues in emotional eating and then how the gospel message provides true hope for us...even in this area! As we are stepping back to check out some “big picture” topics in emotional …

Today we continue our look at some overarching issues that can lead us directly into the arms of emotional eating for comfort. This episode looks at 5 heart issues and remembers where our true help comes from. If you haven’t heard podcast episodes 40-43, we took the time to work step-by-step through the occasions when we are tempted to indulge in e…

Emotional eating is affected by the mind and thoughts, as we discussed last week, and by other foundational issues. Today we will look at how the physical body and environment have a role in emotional eating as well as some realistic suggestions on how to combat these physical inducements. If you, like me, want to get to the bottom of this habitual…

As we’ve spent the last four weeks discussing how to overcome emotional eating. It really does seem to be something most of us have as a common experience. But that doesn’t mean we have to allow it to wreak havoc in our lives! If you deal with habitual overeating as a way of handling difficult feelings, thoughts, and situations that aren’t related …

This is the final episode in our podcast series Overcoming Emotional Eating. I am offering a free tool I have developed called the Guide Through Emotional Eating to help you practically through your moments of being tempted toward emotional eating. Download your free copy to work through it as I explain the different prompts. You can find it at htt…

We are continuing our podcast series Overcoming Emotional Eating together using a tool I have for you called the Guide Through Emotional Eating. Download your free copy to work through it as I explain the different prompts. You can find it at https://www.cherylszarko.com/emotionaleating/ The most powerful driver of emotional eating, arguably even m…

We are continuing our series Overcoming Emotional Eating with an accompanying tool called the Guide Through Emotional Eating. Download your free copy to work through it with me. You can find it at https://www.cherylszarko.com/emotionaleating/ This is part 2 in our series on overcoming emotional eating. Today we will dig into the emotions part of em…

We are beginning a walk through emotional eating together using a tool I have for you called the Guide Through Emotional Eating. Download your free copy to work through it with me. You can find it at https://www.cherylszarko.com/emotionaleating/ I talk with people who have disordered eating, those without disordered eating, and those who struggle w…

Not only does my history prove a distorted relationship with food, eating, and my own body-related thoughts, but I dare say that the majority of women I have known throughout life have some degree of this damaging relationship with food and eating. It’s no wonder when we are taught this by the daily messages in our culture. But this makes for some …

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

Munch on small bites all summer with the Summer Shorts series! Keep in touch at truefoodfreedomandfaith.com where you will find access to all my socials or leave a comment or question! Subscribe to this podcast to be alerted when Season 2 starts back up again in a few months! Also, be sure you don’t miss any free resource, podcast, blog post, or TH…

In this final episode of Season 1, we discuss another major cause of a poor relationship with food and eating. You might be surprised to hear that for many people, eating issues has very little to do with the actual food. Problems with eating are not usually due to informed nutritional decisions. At least, that's not all that goes into eating behav…

I am answering a listener question in today's podcast. She wanted me to address concerns about body image and weight gain for pregnant and postpartum women. Although I will mainly be addressing pregnancy, all of this applies equally to the postpartum or lactating stage women, as well. Pregnancy is usually considered a joyous event worth celebrating…

If this topic has caught your attention, please give this episode a listen. The issue of secrecy in eating is an important one because of the consequences it carries. If you have a practice of secret eating or secretly avoiding food, I want to encourage you today. I also want to shed a bit of light on the beginning of the path to true freedom from …

Last week we covered what the term “Gospel” means and its great power to bring those who believe and receive it from spiritual death and punishment from God to full life, eternal favor from Him, and all the blessings that Jesus earned on our behalf. Just amazing. There are no words. Therefore, I want to kindly implore you and stress that if you did…

We all have areas in our lives that we want to see changed. And for many of you, these areas may be in the arena of eating, weight obsession, and body image preoccupation. What we are going to talk about today is foundational to true, lasting, deep change in these areas…but also in all other areas, as well. What might surprise you is that the first…

Today's topic is acid diets, or more specifically, alkaline diets or alkaline ash diets. You may have seen these promoted on your social media feeds, on blogs, on YouTube, and in a number of other places...and it's confusing. What is an alkaline diet? Do I need to do it? Will it prevent diseases? What does the evidence show? Well, let’s talk! You'l…

Today I'm going to answer a listener's questions about "gut health." She is wondering what it is, whether it's important or even real, and whether the many claims she has heard about it are true. I think this takes some explaining. I know you've heard about gut and gut health. I will provide plenty of information about this to give you a good under…

In today's episode, come on a little journey with me. Listen to a true case study of one person's honest experience along the path to food freedom as well as how solutions can be implemented. You can peek into this real-life account of what it's like to go through the difficulties of a disordered eating mindset and what the pathway toward freedom a…

Every once in a while, I think it is good to bring back foundational messages. Today I want to re-emphasize that becoming healthier is about far more than going on a diet. In fact, dieting has shown to be very detrimental for many and subtracts from health in many ways. For March, I have a special heart check questionnaire ready for our Newsletter …

Today's episode is a deep one! Many of us have ended up in this enslaving condition of chronic dieting, its fuel of body image issues, and the pursuit of ideals – and cannot break free! The reason may be that these are just the fruits of even deeper issues. And we must dig deep to deal with the true root issues of a problem if we are to get free fr…

Anyone can lose weight. Yes, it’s true. But not everyone will lose weight. And most of those who do lose weight will not keep it off. You know that. I know that. We know because we’ve experienced this over and over. Why can’t we just get rid of the fat and have it stay gone? Why does it act like a lost chick always running back to mama? Well, the r…

Why are preservatives and additives so bad? What is it about preservatives and additives that make them so unhealthy? Or are they? In today’s podcast I’m going to dare to engage my critical thinking skills and scandalously use a balanced approach to the 3 main issues that concern us. A balanced approach is exactly what this topic needs and I hope i…

One of the hottest topics in nutrition these days is the concept of "Clean Eating." But let me tell you – there is no universal definition of this. Is it a healthy lifestyle? Is it a new short-lived fad diet? Well, let's discover how it's defined...together! In today's episode, we will look at all the different definitions of clean eating, parse ou…

Today I will discuss a concept called Food Freedom. Food freedom is really essential to lifetime health for both your body and your mind/emotions. Many who live in the trap of repeated dieting, body image problems, and the constant preoccupation with weight loss can be freed from this bondage through discovering food freedom. For Christians, freedo…

You may be thinking, “What if I don’t like healthy eating or exercise? I can’t stick to those!” I know that thought well...it is my story exactly! I had no natural inclination toward eating healthfully or exercising. In fact, I really hated eating the foods I was told I should, and I couldn’t stand exercising! So how did this health habit hater cha…

Today I want to help a listener who is struggling with the weight loss effort and feels a bit hopeless. I will also discuss metabolism, what it is, and how to increase yours. I love answering listener questions, so if you would like to ask a question, please visit truefoodfreedomandfaith.com and go to the “Ask Your Questions Here” section. I would …